Aids Day of Remembrance stitches together memories of a lost generation

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif.– Dec. 1 marks World's Aids Day of Remembrance to raise awareness of HIV/Aids and honor those lost in the ongoing epidemic.

The Quilt Project Gold Coast had a showing of their quilts Wednesday at UCSB. The local chapter of the national aids quilt maintains the decade-long tradition of remembering lives lost in a stitched quilt.

World's Aids Day of Remembrance aims to raise awareness of HIV/Aids, remember those lost to AIDs, destigmatize HIV and help those who have lost loved ones cope in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties.

These quilts are not here just to remember those who have been lost but also a reminder that HIV/Aids crisis is still ongoing. 

Board of Directors Quilt Project Gold Coast Neil Coffman-Grey expresses the need for the day and how it can be used, not only to remember and cope with grief, but how it can be a gateway for education and progress.

"We use that as a kind of an opening conversation to get people to talk about HIV AIDS and that it is still here and that not only should we remember those past, but we should. We need to take care of the people that currently have it."

Tonight the quilts will be on display at Ventura County hall with a vigil at 5:30 p.m. The Quilt Project Gold Coast is always accepting donations and/or volunteers. For more information, you can click here.